get.nws.obs <- function(){
    
    options(warn=-1) # ignore the warnings from coercing white space to NA
    tmpfile <- tempfile()
    url <- "http://www.weather.gov/climate/getclimate.php?wfo=eka"
    opts <- paste("--post-data='station=EKA&product=CLI&recent=no&date=",dateStr,"'",sep='')
    cmd <- paste(wget,url,opts,'-O',tmpfile)
    cat('Executing:',cmd,'\n')
    system(cmd)
    
    lines <- readLines(tmpfile)
    
    line <- grep('PRECIPITATION',lines)
    line <- strsplit(lines[line+1]," ")[[1]]
    line <- line[!is.na(as.numeric(line))]
    yesterdayObs <- as.numeric(line)[1]
    yesterdayObs
}
